"wear thin" meaning in English

See wear thin in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-wear thin.ogg Forms: wears thin [present, singular, third-person], wearing thin [participle, present], wore thin [past], worn thin [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|wear<,,wore,worn> thin}} wear thin (third-person singular simple present wears thin, present participle wearing thin, simple past wore thin, past participle worn thin)
  1. (idiomatic) To lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse. Tags: idiomatic Translations (to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse): kulua (Finnish), tracić na znaczeniu (Polish), gastar (Portuguese), desgastar (Portuguese), истоща́ться (istoščátʹsja) [imperfective] (Russian), истощи́ться (istoščítʹsja) (note: e.g. patience) [perfective] (Russian), иссяка́ть (issjakátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), исся́кнуть (issjáknutʹ) (note: e.g. patience) [perfective] (Russian), протира́ться (protirátʹsja) [imperfective] (Russian), протере́ться (proterétʹsja) (english: clothes, shoes) [perfective] (Russian), изна́шиваться (iznášivatʹsja) [imperfective] (Russian), износи́ться (iznosítʹsja) (english: clothes, shoes) [perfective] (Russian), agotarse (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wears thin",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wearing thin",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wore thin",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worn thin",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wear<,,wore,worn> thin"
      },
      "expansion": "wear thin (third-person singular simple present wears thin, present participle wearing thin, simple past wore thin, past participle worn thin)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 October 7, Joel Sherwood, “Pressure on Latvia Builds”, in The Wall Street Journal:",
          "text": "Continuing his recent stern rhetoric, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told reporters in Stockholm that many have worked hard to help Latvia deal with its severe economic recession but that patience is wearing thin.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1090:",
          "text": "[T]he ‘fun’ factor may be in part attributable the novelty of the feedback mechanism, and the sense of fun might wear thin after longer exposure to the feedback method.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse."
      ],
      "id": "en-wear_thin-en-verb-z9DCBOf4",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "word": "kulua"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "word": "tracić na znaczeniu"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "word": "gastar"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "word": "desgastar"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "istoščátʹsja",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "истоща́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "e.g. patience",
          "roman": "istoščítʹsja",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "истощи́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "issjakátʹ",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "иссяка́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "e.g. patience",
          "roman": "issjáknutʹ",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "исся́кнуть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "protirátʹsja",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "протира́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "english": "clothes, shoes",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "proterétʹsja",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "протере́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "iznášivatʹsja",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "изна́шиваться"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "english": "clothes, shoes",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "iznosítʹsja",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "износи́ться"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
          "word": "agotarse"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-wear thin.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/En-au-wear_thin.ogg/En-au-wear_thin.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-au-wear_thin.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wear thin"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "wears thin",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wearing thin",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "wore thin",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worn thin",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "wear<,,wore,worn> thin"
      },
      "expansion": "wear thin (third-person singular simple present wears thin, present participle wearing thin, simple past wore thin, past participle worn thin)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 October 7, Joel Sherwood, “Pressure on Latvia Builds”, in The Wall Street Journal:",
          "text": "Continuing his recent stern rhetoric, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told reporters in Stockholm that many have worked hard to help Latvia deal with its severe economic recession but that patience is wearing thin.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1090:",
          "text": "[T]he ‘fun’ factor may be in part attributable the novelty of the feedback mechanism, and the sense of fun might wear thin after longer exposure to the feedback method.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-wear thin.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/En-au-wear_thin.ogg/En-au-wear_thin.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/En-au-wear_thin.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "word": "kulua"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "word": "tracić na znaczeniu"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "word": "gastar"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "word": "desgastar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "istoščátʹsja",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "истоща́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "e.g. patience",
      "roman": "istoščítʹsja",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "истощи́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "issjakátʹ",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "иссяка́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "e.g. patience",
      "roman": "issjáknutʹ",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "исся́кнуть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "protirátʹsja",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "протира́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "english": "clothes, shoes",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "proterétʹsja",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "протере́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "iznášivatʹsja",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "изна́шиваться"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "english": "clothes, shoes",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "iznosítʹsja",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "износи́ться"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to lessen or weaken over time, as from overuse",
      "word": "agotarse"
    }
  ],
  "word": "wear thin"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.